"The members of the church are emissaries of peace and seek the good of all  in cooperation with powers and authorities in politics, culture, and economics. But they have to fight against pretensions and injustices when these same powers endanger human welfare. Their strength is in their confidence that God's  purpose rather than human schemes will finally prevail." (from the Confession of 1967).

 

Last Tuesday, our nation participated in the election of its next president, along with countless other leaders at the national, state, and community levels. It was the culmination of a ritual that took nearly two years of preparation, cost billions upon billions of dollars, created tons of trash for the landfills, and involved about one-third of the nation's citizens. When all was said, and done, decisions had been made, individuals had been elected, ballot initiatives were settled, and for the most part we were left with two groups of people - the "winners" and the "losers"- and the hope that, maybe, they would all work with each other for the good of the whole.

 

Over the past week, I have thought of all the things that I have wanted and needed to say in response to the election. I thought back to our time in Redwood Falls three weeks earlier, to a day where many people gathered and looked into the future and tried to learn new ways of being inclusive and understanding, and now found myself wondering how the world will treat the people we met and prayed with that day. In my mind, I started this article at least two dozen times. I have generated tons of what I thought were insightful comments and pastoral reflections and reassurances, but I had trouble getting them to stick; and I have learned over forty-two years of ministry that saying or writing things in the heat of the moment are at best "knee jerk reactions" which serve no constructive purpose, and the people of this presbytery and its congregations deserve better.

 

This election cycle has been tough for all of us. It has been tense and contentious. It has jerked many of us around and showed us how divided we are on so many levels. The campaign has not always brought out the best of who we are as citizens of this nation, and more importantly as the followers of Jesus Christ.

 

Regardless of who we voted for, or against, there most likely have been those moments when our thoughts, words, and actions, have not fully reflected the image of the One who has created and called us. In the face of what we heard and saw from many of our brothers and sisters, our humanity caught up with us and that made it tougher for us in our witnesses to the faith. These past months have been challenging and have taken a significant toll on the hearts, minds, and the spirits of many of us, and there are many who feel very bruised and others who are broken.

 

The election has been over for a week, and while the president-elect is laying the foundation for the next administration, there are many who are still coming to an understanding of what took place. It is time to move ahead, but at the same time, we need to give people time to process their thoughts and emotions. Those who ended up on the "losing" side have something that they need to work through before they can become gracious in their response. Loss does bring a sense of grief and there are those who are dealing with that emotion, and it does not have a switch that can be flipped on and off. It is a process that goes through many stages and people go through the stages at their own pace. It takes a while to get from denial and anger to acceptance, understanding, and graciousness. Many people, good people, on both sides of the campaign were heavily invested. They bought into their candidate's visions and promises, heart, mind, and soul. This was a very emotional campaign; and when your hopes are dashed, there is a lostness and a grief that does not go away the next morning. Whether or not we like how that lostness and grief has been expressed, we need to acknowledge it and try to understand it so that we can start to work together to create what it is that God is calling us to create.

 

We are entering a different era in the life of this nation. We have no idea where this will lead us and what things will look like in three months or three years, but the one thing that we know for certain is that we have work to do and our responsibilities as "Church of Jesus Christ" have not changed. Or call -- our mission -- is the same today as it was before the election, and will be after the next election. Regardless of how our votes were cast or not cast, regardless of what political or social label we slap on ourselves or those around us, we know what we must be about and it is no easy task!

 

The Confession of 1967 which was quoted at the top of this article is a reminder of what we are to be about. We are "God's emissaries of peace" - and that means working together with others to make that happen, and also challenging and holding others accountable when the good of all people is at risk. As the church of Jesus Christ, Christ's mission is our mission, and in Luke's Gospel he made it clear - it is neither a Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, or Green Party "platform plank," it is to be the marching orders for all of us who are part of Christ's Party -

 

Friends, this is the real work at hand. I pray that we will be faithful - working together - to fulfill God's call to us in the days, months, and years that are ahead. Let us be confident, for we know who it is that holds the future!